Beyond it lay a corridor marked by handwritten arrows.
The arrows led away from the research laboratories toward a sealed dormitory area.
Nerin met them at the door.
She was thinner than in the recording, with a bandage across one arm and deep lines beneath her eyes.
When she saw the cloth in Sepha’s hand, she stopped walking.
She touched the sewn blue flower and began to cry.
Sepha did not try to tell her that everything was over.
She simply said that Vela had asked her to bring it.
Nerin held the cloth for a moment and then returned it.
Please give it back to her yourself, she said.
I want to be there when you do.
The rescue team moved through the dormitory and assessed the patients one by one.
Several suffered from dehydration and lung irritation.
Others had injuries from a recent equipment failure.
One young worker had symptoms consistent with a low-level toxin exposure, but Sepha refused to assume a diagnosis without testing.
She arranged a controlled transfer to the rescue ship’s medical bay.
Two armed guards watched from the opposite end of the corridor.
Their leader demanded proof that the rescue team had government authorization.
The commander displayed the order through a portable screen.
The guard said corporate regulations required all biological materials to remain on the platform.
The commander replied that the order protected evidence and witnesses, not illegal experiments.
He offered the guards a safe passage and the opportunity to speak with independent investigators.
The leader lowered his weapon slightly but said the project director had promised they would be prosecuted if they allowed anyone to leave.
Sepha spoke before the commander could answer.
She told the guard that patients were already suffering and that another delay could cost lives.
He looked toward the dormitory door, where a child stood holding the hand of an elderly worker.
The child was not frightened of the rescue team.
She was frightened of the man with the weapon.
The guard lowered it completely.
He ordered his companions to do the same.
The commander thanked him and arranged for the guards to be separated from the witnesses during the return voyage.
Nobody declared them innocent.
Nobody treated surrender as a substitute for an investigation.
But the immediate threat ended without a shot.
Imani and two technicians remained in the engineering section to stabilize the life-support system until the evacuation was complete.
